| Team: | Minnesota Vikings |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Record: | 13–3 |
| Division Place: | 1st NFC North |
| Coach: | Mike Zimmer |
| General Manager: | Rick Spielman |
| Owner: | Zygi Wilf |
| Stadium: | U.S. Bank Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Won Divisional Playoffs (vs. Saints) 29–24 Lost NFC Championship (at Eagles) 7–38 |
| Uniform: | File:Vikings 2017-2022 (cropped).png |
| Shortnavlink: | Vikings seasons |
The 2017 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 57th in the National Football League (NFL), and their fourth under head coach Mike Zimmer. With the team's home stadium, U.S. Bank Stadium, scheduled to host Super Bowl LII at the end of the season, the Vikings attempted to make history as the first team to play the Super Bowl on their home field; in recording their best regular season record since 1998, they clinched a first-round bye for the first time since 2009 and became the eighth team in the Super Bowl era to qualify for the playoffs in a season in which their stadium hosted the Super Bowl. They defeated the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round 29–24 on a walk-off play referred to as the "Minneapolis Miracle", but lost 38–7 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.
This was the first season since 2006 without star running back Adrian Peterson on the roster, as the team declined his contract option in February.
See main article: 2017 NFL draft.
| Pro Bowler |
| 2017 Minnesota Vikings draft | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft order | Player name | Position | College | Contract | Notes | ||
| Round | Selection | ||||||
| 14 | Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles | ||||||
| 2 | 41 | bgcolor=lightsteelblue | 4 years / $6.35 million | from Bengals | |||
| 48 | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals | ||||||
| 3 | 70 | 4 years / $3.33 million | from Jets | ||||
| 79 | Traded to the New York Jets | ||||||
| 86 | Traded to the Kansas City Chiefs | from Dolphins | |||||
| 104 | Traded to the San Francisco 49ers | from Chiefs | |||||
| 4 | 109 | from 49ers | |||||
| 120 | |||||||
| 128 | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals | from Dolphins | |||||
| 132 | Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles | from Chiefs | |||||
| 139 | Traded to the Kansas City Chiefs | from Browns via Eagles | |||||
| 5 | 160 | Traded to the New York Jets | |||||
| 170 | from Chiefs | ||||||
| 180 | from Chiefs | ||||||
| 6 | 199 | Traded to the Washington Redskins | |||||
| 201 | from Redskins | ||||||
| 7 | 219 | from Browns via 49ers | |||||
| 220 | from 49ers via Redskins | ||||||
| 230 | Traded to the Washington Redskins | from Eagles | |||||
| 232 | |||||||
| 245 | from Chiefs | ||||||
| Name | Position | College | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | |||
| Terrell Newby | Nebraska | ||
| R. J. Shelton | Michigan State | ||
| Josiah Price | Michigan State | ||
| TCU | |||
| Nick Fett | OT | Iowa State | |
| Freddie Tagaloa | OT | Arizona | |
| LSU | |||
| Caleb Kidder | DE | Montana | |
| Sam McCaskill | DE | Boise State | |
| Dylan Bradley | Southern Miss | ||
| Cincinnati | |||
| Shaan Washington | LB | Texas A&M | |
| Horace Richardson | SMU | ||
| Nebraska |
| Date | Player name | Position | Contract terms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2, 2017 | WR | [1] | ||
| TE | ||||
| WR | ||||
| OT | ||||
| CB | ||||
| RB | ||||
| DT | ||||
| OT | ||||
| S | ||||
| March 8, 2017 | OT | 1 year / $690,000[2] | ||
| March 15, 2017 | CB | 1 year / $3.25 million[3] | ||
| WR | 3 years / $17 million[4] | |||
| March 24, 2017 | DE | 2 years / $7.5 million[5] |
| Date | Player name | Position | Note | New team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 10, 2017 | G | Released[6] | San Francisco 49ers | |
| G | ||||
| March 6, 2017 | OLB | Retired[7] | ||
| March 9, 2017 | TE | New York Giants[8] | ||
| OT | Carolina Panthers[9] | |||
| P | Indianapolis Colts[10] | |||
| March 10, 2017 | WR | Carolina Panthers[11] | ||
| CB | Carolina Panthers[12] | |||
| March 11, 2017 | LB | Jacksonville Jaguars[13] | ||
| March 13, 2017 | WR/KR | Oakland Raiders[14] | ||
| March 14, 2017 | OT | Cincinnati Bengals | ||
| March 24, 2017 | DT | Released | ||
| May 4, 2017 | OT | Waived | ||
| DE | ||||
| S | ||||
| May 16, 2017 | DT | Waived | [15] | |
| May 17, 2017 | DT | Waived | ||
| May 27, 2017 | RB | Detroit Lions | ||
| May 31, 2017 | WR | Waived[16] | ||
| March 10, 2017 | QB | |||
| FB | ||||
| DE | --> |
| Date | Player name | Position | Previous team | Contract terms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 3, 2017 | OT | [17] | |||
| K | |||||
| P | |||||
| March 9, 2017 | OT | 5 years / $58.75 million[18] | |||
| March 10, 2017 | OT | 5 years / $30 million[19] | |||
| March 14, 2017 | DE | 1 year / $3.75 million[20] | |||
| March 16, 2017 | RB | 3 years / $15.0 million[21] | |||
| March 30, 2017 | CB | BC Lions (CFL) | [22] | ||
| WR | Cleveland Browns | ||||
| TE | Cleveland Gladiators (AFL) | ||||
| March 31, 2017 | QB | 1 year / $2.0 million[23] | |||
| April 3, 2017 | P | 1 year / $2.0 million[24] | |||
| May 10, 2017 | WR | 1 year / $1.5 million | |||
| May 17, 2017 | DT | [25] |
Denotes this is a reserve/future contract.
The Vikings' preliminary preseason schedule was announced on April 10.
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | NFL.com recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | at Buffalo Bills | W 17–10 | 1–0 | New Era Field | 60,459 | Recap | ||
| 2 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 13–20 | 1–1 | CenturyLink Field | 68,550 | Recap | ||
| 3 | August 27 | San Francisco 49ers | W 32–31 | 2–1 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,551 | Recap | |
| 4 | Miami Dolphins | L 9–30 | 2–2 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,409 | Recap |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | NFL.com recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Orleans Saints | W 29–19 | 1–0 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,606 | Recap | ||
| 2 | September 17 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 9–26 | 1–1 | Heinz Field | 65,971 | Recap | |
| 3 | September 24 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 34–17 | 2–1 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,390 | Recap | |
| 4 | October 1 | Detroit Lions | L 7–14 | 2–2 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,730 | Recap | |
| 5 | at Chicago Bears | W 20–17 | 3–2 | Soldier Field | 61,834 | Recap | ||
| 6 | October 15 | Green Bay Packers | W 23–10 | 4–2 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,848 | Recap | |
| 7 | October 22 | Baltimore Ravens | W 24–16 | 5–2 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,751 | Recap | |
| 8 | October 29 | at Cleveland Browns | W 33–16 | 6–2 | Twickenham Stadium | 74,237 | Recap | |
| 9 | Bye | |||||||
| 10 | November 12 | at Washington Redskins | W 38–30 | 7–2 | FedExField | 74,476 | Recap | |
| 11 | November 19 | Los Angeles Rams | W 24–7 | 8–2 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,809 | Recap | |
| 12 | November 23 | at Detroit Lions | W 30–23 | 9–2 | Ford Field | 66,613 | Recap | |
| 13 | December 3 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 14–9 | 10–2 | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | 71,185 | Recap | |
| 14 | December 10 | at Carolina Panthers | L 24–31 | 10–3 | Bank of America Stadium | 73,728 | Recap | |
| 15 | December 17 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 34–7 | 11–3 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,833 | Recap | |
| 16 | at Green Bay Packers | W 16–0 | 12–3 | Lambeau Field | 78,092 | Recap | ||
| 17 | December 31 | Chicago Bears | W 23–10 | 13–3 | U.S. Bank Stadium | 66,802 | Recap | |
See also: 2017–18 NFL playoffs.
| Round | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | NFL.com recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Card | Bye | ||||||
| Divisional | January 14 | New Orleans Saints (4) | W 29–24 | 1–0 | U.S. Bank Stadium | Recap | |
| NFC Championship | January 21 | at Philadelphia Eagles (1) | L 7–38 | 1–1 | Lincoln Financial Field | Recap | |
See main article: Minneapolis Miracle.
With their win against the Saints in the NFC Divisional Round, Minnesota became the first team in the Super Bowl era to advance to the conference championship game the same year they hosted the Super Bowl. Despite going to Lincoln Financial Field as three-point favorites, primarily due to a general lack of confidence in Eagles second-string quarterback Nick Foles, the Vikings lost in a massive upset to the number 1 seeded Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 38–7. Although the Vikings took an early lead on their opening drive via a pass from Case Keenum to Kyle Rudolph, the Eagles leveled the scores on a 50-yard Patrick Robinson interception return before scoring a further 31 unanswered points over the final three-quarters. This loss extended the Vikings' NFC title drought to 41 seasons, second only to the Detroit Lions' 48.
Four Vikings players were elected to the Pro Bowl when the rosters were announced on December 19, 2017, with three-time selection Everson Griffen, two-time selection Xavier Rhodes and first-timer Adam Thielen all named as starters, while Griffen's fellow third-timer Anthony Barr was named on the bench at outside linebacker behind the Cardinals' Chandler Jones and the Redskins' Ryan Kerrigan.[26] [27] Safety Harrison Smith was rated as the best safety in the league by Pro Football Focus over the course of the season, but was not included in the roster for the Pro Bowl, leading to some considering him to be one of the biggest snubs of the season.[28] [29] [30]
Smith was eventually named to the NFC's Pro Bowl roster on January 22, after New York Giants safety Landon Collins withdrew due to injury. Kyle Rudolph was also included after Jimmy Graham pulled out with an injury, while Linval Joseph took the place of the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles' Fletcher Cox. Smith will be appearing in his third straight Pro Bowl, while Rudolph and Joseph are appearing in their second career Pro Bowls.[31] Barr and Griffen also pulled out of the Pro Bowl due to injury, replaced by Thomas Davis and Michael Bennett respectively.[32]
| width=150px style="" | Category | width=150px style="" | Player(s) | width=75px style="" | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passing yards | 3,547 | ||||
| Passing touchdowns | 22 | ||||
| Rushing yards | 842 | ||||
| Rushing touchdowns | 8 | ||||
| Receptions | 91 | ||||
| Receiving yards | 1,276 | ||||
| Receiving touchdowns | 8 | ||||
| Points | 130 | ||||
| Kickoff return yards | 312 | ||||
| Punt return yards | 372 | ||||
| Tackles | 113 | ||||
| Sacks | 13.0 | ||||
| Interceptions | 5 | ||||
| Forced fumbles | 3 |
| width=150px style="" | Category | width=100px style="" | Total yards | width=110px style="" | Yards per game | width=80px style="" | NFL rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passing offense | 3,753 | 234.6 | 11th | ||||
| Rushing offense | 1,957 | 122.3 | 7th | ||||
| Total offense | 5,710 | 356.9 | 11th | ||||
| Passing defense | 3,078 | 192.4 | 2nd | ||||
| Rushing defense | 1,337 | 83.6 | 2nd | ||||
| Total defense | 4,415 | 275.9 | 1st |